I'm a reasonably good driver. I pretend I'm playing Grand Theft Auto, and I don't want to attract the attention of the police.

I'm a pretty good driver most of the time, but sometimes I get tired or distracted or frustrated.

It helps road rage a lot to realize that other people probably feel the same way.

Yeah, I think empathy is the anti-road-rage. Not everyone is laser-focused and in a big hurry. This guy's just taking a Sunday drive, and this guy's got other things on his mind, and this guy is drunk and insane.

I am a good driver. A little aggressive, but I got the chops to back it up. mr. gaspode makes me drive in the city because I don't get stressed out.

I drive a beater so it doesn't matter when I bounce off other objects like cars and concrete medians. Bodies I do yield for, so I'd say I'm squarely in the good driver bracket.

This message was texted while doing 75mph in rush hour interstate traffic.

I don't have empathy for poor or dangerous drivers. And Houston's full of both.

I'm a good driver and driving doesn't stress me out. My partner, though, turns into Mr. Hyde behind the wheel, and spends most of his trip (even just the drive to work) shouting and screaming at other drivers. It's been a problem in that I hate to go anywhere with him driving, anymore.

I'm a very good driver (knowck wood) with thousands and thousands of highway miles behind me. I'm anal about driving well, passing only on the left, using signals when passing and turning (even in a parking lot), and checking mirrors constantly. More communication, more information is always better.

My driving has been shaped by the fact that at the age of 14, I almost lost my mother to a terrible accident when she was broadsided on the driver's side by a driver who distractedly missed a stop sign. She was hospitalized for nearly two months and had an incredibly long recovery/rebuild. Without the seatbelt we'd have lost her immediately. That was an early and serious lesson in how insanely dangerous driving is, all the time, and how careful one needs to be while doing it. Too many people see driving as a form of artistic self-expression rather than as the most hazardous thing we do daily, operating fast-moving, sharp-edged, heavy equipment in unpredictable environments.

Ditto on that last sentence, Meeks. There are a lot of car accidents, but whenever I think about it I'm always amazed that there aren't many, many more.

Also, when I'm tempted to drive like a crazy lunatic or a getaway driver or whatever (and I'm tempted a lot--I've definitely got it in me), I sometimes calm myself by doing simple math in my head--ten minutes of highway driving at 60 mph equals eight and a half minutes at 75 mph. And averaging 75 isn't always easy in traffic, and it's never good for gas mileage, or wear and tear on the car (well, at least with the kinds of shitboxes I drive it isn't). Is that minute and a half worth the risk and aggravation?

I'm a terrible driver. Just awful. I got into an accident while taking my license exam, for god's sake. I hate it, it scares the hell out of me and I do it as little as possible.

Although buying the new car means that I inherit the station wagon and it has 40 million airbags. It's like a giant marshmallow. So that helps. I'm still afraid of hurting someone else through my automotive incompetence, though.

I'm a good driver, but I don't like driving all that much. Part of it's just because I'm out of practice; I've only owned one car in my life, which was old and beat up and which I only really used every few weeks to do grocery runs. (It used to get towed fairly often because I never remembered to move it and it would get parking tickets. I spent more money on tickets and towing fees for that car than on gas.) I've driven cross-country a few times, and that was kind of fun, once I got into a groove.

I definitely prefer highways over city driving, but I hate really curvy hilly highways, which is pretty much all that's around here. So my growing dislike of driving may also be a geographic thing.

I don't think I've ever had road rage. I tend to drive with the belief that everyone is on the verge of doing something stupid, so my job is to give them as much room as possible so that I don't get caught up in their stupidity. I find myself pleased when I correctly predict who is about to make a really ridiculous lane change or pass me on the right or do something else dumb and dangerous. I'd much rather sit back and watch and stay out of the way than try to compete with that shit.

I'm a good driver, but I'm sure other road users don't think so when I'm doing 30mph and they think I should be doing 40. But a few friends have lost their licenses due to accumulation of speed camera points, so I take no chances, drive at the speed limit and get there safely.

Having said that, I don't drive into Central London. I'm driving to the meetup tonight, which is about as close to the centre of London as I'll go. And it's after the rush hour, so it shouldn't be too bad.

I'm decent. I'm generally pretty aware of what's going on and good at anticipating what people are going to do and pretty steady. I'm not comfortable making tight passes and lane changes, but I'm serviceable on the highway in heavy traffic. I failed backwards driving in high school (but did well enough on everything else to compensate) but I think I've gotten pretty good at parallel parking (I can do the dreaded left-side park like it's nothing). Sometimes I'm a shark about constant rate of speed (maybe the most unsung quality of good driving), when I'm "Sunday driving" I definitely float like a butterfly.

My road rage pet peeve is people who are asses about merging. If everyone anticipated and let mergers move smoothly in to driving lanes, so many problems could be alleviated.

Respecting my space includes not riding my ass when driving. I think I'm a good driver; though I refuse to drive in NYC...when I was in Albany I though it prudent not to honk at the thugs who were crossing where and when ever they pleased. Cell phones? Fucking hang up and drive...how careful will you have been when someone's kid or pet is hurt because you'd been contentedly babbling away and didn't notice?

I'm an excellent driver. Loove to drive. I do miss it so.

You can be my driver hellbient.

I'm a good driver. An angry driver, but a good driver.

I'd like to have a big signboard on the roof of my car, facing both forwards and back. The forward-facing side would have to be in backwards lettering, you know. That way I could tell people when they were entering asshole territory, or I could commend them on a properly executed lane change.

Pup, the backwards lettering assumes those people in front of you are going to look in their mirrors on occasion.

I once saw a Jeep in San Rafael, CA, that had mounted on the roof two large Sidewinder missiles (well, pvc sewer pipe with a nosecone and fins) and each missile had written on the side:

"NEXT TIME, SIGNAL"

Brilliant.

I drive for about 8 years, and never initiated a hit after the first year (in which I beat my first car in various ways). I have been rear-ended three times, though (in a red light, waiting in a roundabout, and some person who randomly decided to move when traffic was stopped).

As for aggressiveness, I'm probably on the non-aggressive side of the scale (I will normally add a 1/2 mile U-turn to my trip instead of forcing a merge). I get a bit more aggressive when there's heavy music going on, or when I'm really late, but, even so, not more aggressive than the average driver. Except when I'm completely alone in the road (no car, person, dog or ghost in the whereabouts), when I'll drift in every turn just to keep in shape.

Fun fact: I don't know how the horn on my new car (1 year old) sounds. I just never ever used it. I hope it works :) And probably only used my horn in traffic less than half a dozen times in my whole life. My car is my temple, I'm just "in peace" when I'm driving, I can watch people behave like assholes in front of me and almost kill me all day long without losing my temper.

Also, all my friends are warned that I simply don't take calls when I'm driving. If they call me during my commute time, they'll probably be ignored. If I'm in a good mood I'll call them back in a red light just to say "Driving, call you later". I do have one of those bluetooth thingies in my car, but I find it just as annoying as talking in a real phone.

I've finally realized that driving slower is a good thing. I sometimes drive fast on major highways. I hate, hate, hate when people don't stop for pedestrians.

I rarely drive anymore, tho I'll drive the mister's Jeep on occasion. A funny thing happened when I quit driving all the time: I quit taking it so personally. These days when I do drive, I both enjoy it more, and am a lot more laid back. The mister is much the same; in fact he's the first partner / roommate / friend / etc... I've never gotten white-knuckled with, as a passenger. All the others (including my mom!) either drive way too fast (and by "too fast" I mean that even I, who tend to drive like a bike racer, would cringe and press the invisible brake pedal), or all choppy and swervy, and/or pulled random scary / dumb / flaky / aggro shit whilst driving.

now I *have* had minor bike rage a time or two. In fact I THUMPED a minivan for being hopelessly braindead yakking on the phone and gridlocking an intersection a couple weeks back. In my defence another driver caught behind them grinned and gave me the thumbs-up when I did this; I guess they'd have liked to do the same thing but a bumper tap isn't as well-recieved in Denver as a thump from a cyclist's mittened paw.

When I commuted +60 miles daily, I'll absolutely admit I drove more aggro and pissy. I also got more stressed out and tended to escalate if someone pulled something really shitty.

My main driving rules, however, have always been: When in the driver's seat, I don't do anything else BUT drive. I don't eat, I don't turn my head to talk to passengers, I don't rummage for shit on the seats/floor/console, I don't fart around with the radio or CDs, and I for damn sure don't blather or god forbid txt on the phone. Seriously. I cut my adult-driving teeth on the Deutche Autobahn when I was 19, and the Germans are very, very strict about driving-as-a-full-attention activity. They drive for driving's sake, and I guess I must have incorporated that attitude into my own habits. I think that (plus bicycle racing teaches you a lot about spatial relationships at speed) has made major contributions to the fact that I rarely get lost and have never had an accident. great, I'm sure I just jinxed myself there...

About ten years ago, my niece told me, "my Mom says that you drive like an old man." She was probably right. I'm usually a pretty laid-back cautious driver and haven't had an accident or a ticket for over twenty years now. I never use the phone when I'm driving and don't do anything more complicated than drinking coffee. I used to be amazed when I had to commute to work seeing people, read, shave, put on makeup, do their hair, smoke and talk at the same time, etc.

Some would say I'm an aggressive driver. My father says "I have confidence in my equipment."

But yeah, I hate slow, stupid, dangerous, and drunk drivers. I stop for peds and animals. I don't drive during the snow (unless it's an emergency) and I use my blinkers appropriately.

That said, if some motherfucker doesn't get off the goddamned line when the light is green, I'll be the one over here honking. Along with all the other heading-to-DC assholes.

It's nailbiting driving with my mother. She seems to feel that 20 under the speed limit is the speed a person should be driving at. Even if that means that she crawls along the road and is getting nothing but fingers and honks from people. And this is on a nice day with no weather or road issues. GAH.

I am a very calm person and tend to not get too emotional in most situations. But for some reason when I got behind the wheel I could feel my stress levels skyrocket as I got pissed off at other drivers. I was a very aggressive driver and had little to no patience for bad or slow drivers. I would swear to myself, or sometimes even out loud, flip the occassional bird, and even do the the dreaded drive-by-and-give-an-exagerated-dirty-look-to-the-other-driver.

The about 6 or 7 years ago I realized how insanely wound up I was getting and feared I was going to have a heart attack behind the wheel one day if I kept it up. It took a few years of retraining my self that I don't need to "win" in traffic and to just focus on what I could control. Now I feel much relaxed when I drive and, although I never considered myself a bad driver before, I know that I'm a much safer driver now. I try to drive with traffic, but I do still spend quite a bit of time in the fast line (even when I'm not in a hurry, which I don't understand). But I'm sure in another decade I'll be driving like a sleepy grand dad and driving the youngsters crazy with my old fashioned driving-the-speed-limit ways. But seriously, if the light is green......

I'm a calm, defensive driver but it didn't used to be that way. I found myself all worked up and stressed out about something I couldn't change (other drivers) and decided I had to change.

I did the math-thing regarding speeding a while back and decided that a few minutes and a chance at an expensive ticket just weren't worth the hassle. I still speed a bit on highways (10 mph or 10 kph, depending) but only when the other traffic is doing similar speeds and not in foul weather. I drive a Jeep Wrangler with a soft top. It's a bitch in just about any amount of wind. It drives people nuts when I have to slow down below the speed limit but they can go around me.

I avoid driving in the snow. It makes me extremely nervous and therefore a danger to me and others. Only if it's important do I go out in it and then the mister gets to drive. Even with him driving (and he's an excellent driver) I stay home if I can.

And, because of my shitty vision, I also avoid driving at night when it's raining. You really don't want to know how little I see in those conditions.